House owned by solicitors for 7 years

theoretica

If they don't accept your offer it might be tempting to check with the local council that they know this property is unoccupied long term.

pumas

If you really want to know more, find out who owned it - Land Registry, who lived there -Electoral roll, who died when- GRO,  whose will - probate / Letters of Administration can be downloaded for 1.50

AdrianC

theoretica said:

If they don't accept your offer it might be tempting to check with the local council that they know this property is unoccupied long term.

It crossed my mind the pretence at selling may be an attempt to get around the LA's non-occupation regs...

eddddy

Get chatting with the EA about the property, and see how much they'll tell you about the property.

But your posts here sound a bit accusatory and potentially confrontational. If you approach the EA in that way, they're likely to clam-up.

Bear in mind that the EA wants the property sold, so they get their commission - so they'll probably want to tell you any background info that helps you decide to make an offer - but not if they think you'll kick-up a big fuss, and potentially get them in trouble for telling you too much.

(But equally, some EAs might not be 100% honest in what they tell you, so perhaps be cautious.)

Jeepers_Creepers

eddddy said:

But your posts here sound a bit accusatory and potentially confrontational. If you approach the EA in that way, they're likely to clam-up.

(But equally, some EAs might not be 100% honest in what they tell you, so perhaps be cautious.)

'Suspicious', yes. Accusatory/Confrontational? Not really, surely?

This is clearly 'unusual', so I think it's fair enough for a potential buyer to wonder if there's a chance of an offer being accepted, or whether someone is playing games (as we experienced a couple of years back with a property with an aggie tie - owner did not actually want to sell, and EA was happy to play along. Had we been armed with the facts, we'd have saved ourselves a lot of bother).

And, if someone is playing games, I'd bludy want to know if it was 'legal', and would be happy to throw 'tspanner in t'works if I found I was effectively a pawn.

There are ALL sorts of possible underhand shenanigans going on, but it could also be just as said above - the beneficiaries are in-fighting, and are therefore not concerned yet whether it sells.

What are the chances, tho'? Could it possibly be a solicitor and/or EA thinking they may have an "unsellable" property on their hands that they could "help out" the probators (sic) with by "taking it off their hands" for a "reasonable" sum?

(That's it - my quota of inverted's used up for the day.)

steampowered

Countrysider said:
If they now work for her descendants or other will beneficiary, then how can they be happy for this situation to continue with the house remaining in the solicitors name and their inheritance not benefiting them?

Why would the solicitors want to delay settlement of the estate?

It is in the interest of the solicitors to promptly sort out the estate's affairs so that they can do their work and get paid. They don't benefit from dragging it out.

I think it is much more likely to be the beneficiaries who are delaying. Probably because they want to get more money for the house than it is actually worth. But I'm speculating just like you. 

Countrysider

eddddy said:

Get chatting with the EA about the property, and see how much they'll tell you about the property.

I did exactly this to begin with and the EA said they knew virtually nothing about the property and were awaiting to engage the owner. I believed them, and it seemed they actually inherited the instruction from another/partner EA (if this is even possible?) as the pictures they used were identical to previous listings.

steampowered said:
Why would the solicitors want to delay settlement of the estate?

I have no idea. The reason and motivation to do this escapes me.  

steampowered said:
 Probably because they want to get more money for the house than it is actually worth.

That would make sense, but the land registry entry shows a valuation was conducted after the owner died and this value has been the asking price ever since. The house is in the north and prices are not that much higher than 7 years ago, so today's price is reasonable but not incredibly cheap, as would be the case if the house was in London (for example). They are therefore not using price to deter interest, but the uplift clause would make buying difficult without being as blatant as a vastly inflated asking price, but again I don't know why they would do this.

Jeepers_Creepers said:
There are ALL sorts of possible underhand shenanigans going on, but it could also be just as said above - the beneficiaries are in-fighting, and are therefore not concerned yet whether it sells.

I wondered this, but the beneficiaries would have had to agree for it to go on the market and there was money spent on conveyancing etc. There has been effort put in to selling it and presumably each time it's taken on / off the market they would have had to give their say-so. AdrianC said:

theoretica said:

If they don't accept your offer it might be tempting to check with the local council that they know this property is unoccupied long term.

It crossed my mind the pretence at selling may be an attempt to get around the LA's non-occupation regs...

Very possible, but presumably the property would have to be continually marketed to avoid council tax / empty home surcharge? If they have insurance this will be expensive and invalidated by non-occupation. Who is paying this and why? 

Countrysider

pumas said:

If you really want to know more, find out who owned it - Land Registry, who lived there -Electoral roll, who died when- GRO,  whose will - probate / Letters of Administration can be downloaded for 1.50

Land Registry details I have. Electoral roll i didn't check, as i assumed it would be no-one, but that is a good call. I didn't know the Will / Probate letters were available so i will check this out, thanks. There is an entry in the register for the estate so I can presumably get this. 

Countrysider

lincroft1710 said:

A house that has been empty for 7 years could have a myriad of problems, both seen and unseen.

Very true. I'd certainly like to have a full structural survey done!

Skiddaw1

I think I'd just want to know the backstory through sheer nosiness. It's intriguing isn't it? Do keep us posted on anything you find out OP.